Episode Details

Guest: David Duxbury

Hosts: Dave Homewood

Recorded: 27th of May 2017

Released:  7th of June 2017

Duration: 59  minutes 23 second

In the first of what is planned to become an occasional series that celebrates the history of our Air Force marking the RNZAF’s 80th year, eminent RNZAF historian David Duxbury of Christchurch joins Dave Homewood in a discussion about the earliest years of the Air Force.

In fact it began as two Air Forces, in June 1923, as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force and the New Zealand Air Force (Territorial). David discusses how the Air Force in those days was made up and trained, their bases at Wigram and Hobsonville, their aircraft types, their roles, their uniforms and much more.

In future episodes with David Duxbury, the WONZ Show plans to cover all sorts of topics from the long and colourful history of our Air Force, from episodes focusing on a particular aircraft type in service, or a particular station or base, or specific people, or campaigns and battles, etc. Each episode should be packed with details, facts, trivia, humorous asides and stuff you probably never knew. Feel free to offer suggestions for topics for upcoming shows. And also if there is anything from show topics such as this episode that you wish we’d covered or you want to ask more about, send in your query and we can follow up on feedback from the previous shows when we record the next one.

The following photos have been collected by Dave Homewood over the years from private collections. They must not be reproduced without permission.

Above: An early Territorial course at Wigram. As David says, some of the pilots did not have uniforms in the early days. From the collection of the late Ron Sinclair.

Air Force members on parade, probably in Auckland, in the mid 1930’s, From the collection of the late Bob Lawn.

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